BP's Latest Problem May Signal
A Troublesome Culture of Fear

Updated June 30, 2006 12:01 a.m. ET

BP has tripped up in the U.S. -- again. Last year, an explosion at its Texas City, Texas, refinery killed 15 people, triggering several federal investigations. This year, authorities opened a criminal probe into the company following a large spill from its pipelines in Alaska. And now the European oil company has been charged with cornering the $30 billion-a-year U.S. propane market, forcing up prices for millions of rural Americans in 2004. Other oil majors haven't suffered a similar string of mishaps in the U.S. What has BP got...